Happy customers come from happy employees...

Last week I was running a session and we did an activity focused on motivation.  

Give it a try and if you like it, try it on your team.  

Step 1: Think about your 3 best days at work over the last year.

Go ahead, take your time.  

Step 2: Ok, now as you think about those 3 days, half-days, projects, presentations, interactions or moments, see if you identify the common theme.

Here are some themes others have discovered. Achievement, recognition, prestige of organization, pride in the work, responsibility, advancement, exposure, relationships, challenging assignments.

Do you see yours?  Wouldn't it be motivating to do more of that kind of work and less of the other?

Step 3:  Try it with your team.  Either individually or as a team.  Be sure to take notes!

If you want help identifying your theme or want to share how it worked for you, click the link or email me.

Guess what motivates me?  ....your feedback! 

Who's in, Who's out & Who's manning the phones?

According to the decorations in the stores and music on the radio, the Christmas season is upon us!
It can be a stressful time for working moms and dads as they try to attend school events, prepare for the holidays and be productive at work. 

Idea of the Month:  Post your holiday schedule now.

Take some time to ask individuals about their specific schedules requests and do your best to meet them. 
Your efforts to do so will boost productivity.

Fa-La-La-La-La-La-La-La-La....

 

Looking for gifts for the team this season? How about this great customer service   book?  

Click here to order;  Daily Actions for Superstar Service

It takes a village...

Is your office open tomorrow or another day this long weekend?

If so and you've got a staff member working when you're not there, take the opportunity to show appreciation.

Here's some ideas on how to do that;

• leave a note on their desk for them to discover when they come in.
• call them on Thanksgiving and say a quick but sincere thank you (yes an email could work too, but please don't add a to-do to that email.  Just a thank you and be done.)
• leave a yummy surprise in the staff kitchen and email them a note to go find it and enjoy.

It's nice when you have time off to celebrate the holidays and it's nice to be acknowledged if you're the one working so that others can have time off.

Happy Thanksgiving

Don't fear the tears

I’ve been running a lot of performance management training sessions lately and when I ask participants for their challenging situations they often respond:

 “What do you do when the employee cries?”

Here are some tips:

Let them.  Performance reviews or any conversation about a person’s career can evoke a strong emotion and tears might be part of that.

Give them a moment.  Chances are they are not thrilled to be crying so just be patient and pass the Kleenex box.  (Hint: Have a box of tissue in the meeting room just in case, plus it’s flu season, so always good to have them handy)

 If they can’t move on, tell them you will have the conversation later that day.  The sooner the better to ensure you talk.  You don’t want to give the impression that crying will get them out of feedback, coaching or performance reviews.

'Fess up

Come on admit it, there is someone on your team that drives you crazy!

It might not be the quality of their work, but rather their personality that makes them a challenge to manage.   Not to mention that once you form an opinion about them it seems everything they do supports that opinion.

What to do?

Change your mind.  Perhaps if you get to know them in a different way (over lunch or coffee, or collaborating on a project) you will understand their style or behavior better.

Change your reaction.  In our customer service training we discuss using visualization to create a funny image or thought when that challenging customer calls.  This is a healthier than reacting to the call display and assuming the worst.  When I ask for examples of what to visualize that would inspire laughter vs. cringing, participants come up with Sponge Bob, the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man (think Ghost Busters) or kittens on YouTube.   What POSITIVE visual can you think of when you see or hear your challenging team member?    

*This works because, if you are smiling when you see them you will feel better and when they see you smile (maybe for the first time?) it will make them feel better.

Change them.  Well, that’s not really possible.  But if there is a behavior that is counter productive in the workplace,  it is in both of your best interests to address it.   Focus on the behavior and the impact that behavior has on you, the team, the work or the company.

Tennis anyone?

It’s good form to ask your employee questions in order to

• Get their buy-in
• Hear their ideas
• Build their confidence
• and teach them to solve their own problems

 But how do you ask?

 Consider a tennis coach who watches you swing and miss the ball.  The coach asks;

1. “Why didn’t you watch the ball?” 
2. “What were you thinking?”
3.  “What did you notice about the ball?”

What’s your response to those questions?  The first might make you defensive, the second feels condescending but the third might make you think.  “Hmm I wasn’t watching the ball, maybe that’s the problem?”

Next time you catch yourself asking “You don’t really think that solution will work, do you?” be aware that you’re calling them stupid. Re-phrase it and aim for a truly open-ended question.

Just do it

Have you noticed that when you ask the team to take on a task, some people might jump in and succeed, others not so much? Let’s focus on those who don’t jump in.

Tip: Did you know that one of the biggest reasons we don’t do (insert task or goal here) is a fear of failure?

How to spot fear of failure

• Resistance “I don't want to…”
• Self sabotage "“I’ll get to it…” or some form of procrastination.
• Low self-esteem “I can’t because…”
• Perfection “I need more answers, time, resources” (my regular readers who catch my typos, you know I do not suffer from perfectionist!)

What to do about it?

Present your idea.

Ask for their input.

Listen to their responses and then ask for what they need to overcome the challenge.

Recognize their needs and offer support and encouragement along the way.

 It might sound like this:

You:  Good news, we’ve found a way to simplify the invoice process. Starting next week, we will all enter the type of request in the order form.

Captain Resistor:  “I can’t because I’m too busy to add anything else to what I do.  You keep telling me that I should be producing more throughout the day, this will slow me down”

(Notice how I added some hot buttons to get you annoyed?)  Breathe

You:  I appreciate (was that part hard?) you working towards meeting your productivity numbers.  Simplifying our invoice process is important for all of us. How much extra time do you think you will need to enter the type of request?

Captain Resistor: “I don’t know, I haven't tried it yet”

You:  Why don’t we try it for a day and then meet to see what the impact is?

Captain Resistor:  “Okay, but don’t penalize me if my numbers are down!”

The conversation will continue a little longer, but look how we got Captain Resistor to at least try.  Use positive reinforcement to build on that success.